North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) published an open letter to members of Congress (left) that asks a simple question: “When did our careers and livelihoods become fodder for disdain and ridicule?”

Great question, because disparaging the more than 42,000 jobs Keystone XL would support during its construction – according to the U.S. State Department – has become a standard line of attack from Keystone XL opponents, from the president on down.

The union ad makes clear that those who work in the construction trades have had it with politicians who are double-tongued about the need to put Americans back to work and the need for infrastructure investment – while brushing off the way Keystone XL could help with both. From the ad:

“It is the height of hypocrisy for any politician – Democrat or Republican – to champion construction jobs out of one side of his or her mouth when talking about infrastructure investments and economic growth, and then turn around and curse these same jobs when they are associated with an issue such as the Keystone XL pipeline.”

NABTU President Sean McGarvey, in a separate letter to the House of Representatives earlier this month:

“In the five years that we have waited for a presidential decision on Keystone XL, more than 10,000 miles of pipelines have been constructed across America. … As if the persistent high unemployment in construction is not damaging enough, the over 6 million men and women who make their livelihoods in the construction industry must suffer the indignity of having their chosen careers demeaned by professional politicians as nothing more than ‘temporary’ jobs in the context of the debate over the KXL project.”

As Congress digs into the Keystone XL issue we need an honest, fact-driven debate. Especially when it comes to jobs and economic growth. Keystone XL’s relevance on those issues shouldn’t be confused by distortions and misrepresentations like those discredited by the Washington Post Fact Checker and the Tampa Bay Times’ PolitiFact.

These fall under the category of political gamesmanship – all too common in Washington – but hardly a game to American working men and women. They’re ready to work on an important piece of energy infrastructure that has strong support from American voters – the kind the president has been calling for all across the country:

It’s time to quit talking about job creation and infrastructure investment. It’s time to get busy doing it. It’s time to build the Keystone XL pipeline.